Over the Rainbow
by SolBaby
Summary: When a fight breaks out between Vaughn, Denny and Elliot, Julia calls for help from Chelsea. But Chelsea is having problems of her own when she starts to doubt herself as a Rancher. The Harvest Goddess decides to put matters into her own hands by sending Chelsea and her friends to the Land Of Oz. Chelsea and the Gang now have to find their way back home, before it's too late!
1. Chapter 1

Chelsea sighed loudly as she sat at her dinner table in her home. She tapped the side of her tea filled mug with her fingers as her eyes scanned the pages of the book she was reading. It had been raining all morning, just as Taro had predicted, and Chelsea was spending her time indoors. She had finished all her chores on her ranch earlier that day, but she decided to wait at home to see if the rain would clear up before she headed into town.

Chelsea didn't really like being trapped indoors. She liked the fresh air and breeze on her face. If it was any other day, she would simply brave out the rain and go about her day as usual. However, the memory of her getting the flu the last time she did that still haunted her, and Chelsea wasn't about to take another sick leave off of work.

So Chelsea settled herself at her small dinner table and decided to finally read the book that Sabrina had lent to her awhile ago. Chelsea didn't really have much time nor need to read, working as a rancher was enough to keep her busy and content, but she couldn't say no to Sabrina when the small and shy girl insisted eagerly that she should read it.

The wizard of Oz. Chelsea had heard of the story before, but couldn't really remember quite what it was about. As she read it, however, she began to like the story more and more, for the young heroin in the story was much like Chelsea herself. She had long brown hair like Chelsea, lived on a farm like Chelsea, and worried if she is where she truly belongs. Just like Chelsea.

For the past couple of weeks, Chelsea had been getting this eternal tugging feeling at the bottom of her gut. A feeling she got whenever she questioned if she was doing the right thing. Whether being a rancher, was the right thing for her. For as long as Chelsea could remember, she had been a wanderer, never really finding that one place where she could truly stay at, a place she could call home.

Much like the girl within the pages, Chelsea had dreamed of going too far off places and having her own adventures. When she decided to settle down on the Sunshine Islands, she had thought that she had finally found her place in the world. Everyone was so friendly and nice, and even though the work was hard, Chelsea found herself enjoying it. But recently she couldn't shake the feeling of purpose, and wondering if this was where she really needed to be.

Chelsea had just gotten to the part where the Good Witch had pointed Dorothy towards the yellow brick road when she heard a rustling at her feet.

Her dog, Hero, had been quietly napping at her feet all morning. Usually, Hero would have stayed outside or in the barn, but unlike the rest her animals; Hero had no roommate to keep him company. Chelsea felt bad for the poor thing, and so every once in awhile, she would take Hero with her to explore the islands or help her out with chores. And since it was a rainy day and she was already spending the morning indoors, Hero was the perfect companion to keep her company.

Hero, who was now wide awake, ran out from under the table and began sniffing the door.

"Hey Hero, is something wrong?" Chelsea asked curiously as she closed her book. Hero continued to sniff the door before he began pawing at it and barking. Chelsea got up from her chair and walked over towards the door.

"Alright, alright, there's no need to bark, silly. I'll let you out." Chelsea said as she opened the door for her dog.

The moment she did so, something small and shiny whizzed by her feet and into her house. Hero made a 180 turn, completely forgetting about going outside, and ran towards the object that was now standing on her table. It took Chelsea a few moments to grasp the situation as she closed the door and looked back at what had just zoomed in.

"Phew! I thought you were never going to open your door! If I was out there any longer, I was sure that I was going to drown in a puddle!"

As Chelsea got closer to the voice, she realized there was a very small person, sprite to be exact, standing on her table.

"Oh, Agete, It's you!" Chelsea said, walking up to the little red sprite. She noticed that he was soaking wet and dripping from pointy ear to toe. She quickly ran over to where she kept the dish towels and handed one to the sprite.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know you were outside, I would have let you. I hope you didn't catch a cold because of me." Chelsea said, apologetically.

"It's fine. We sprites are much sturdier then we look. We don't get things like colds." The little sprite said cheerfully, rubbing himself down on the over sized towel.

Hero was still barking up a storm, more out of curiosity then aggression, before Chelsea knelt down to calm him down.

"Shhh, its ok Hero. He's a friend." She coed, petting the protective dog on the head. She turned her attention back on Agete. "Is there something I can get for you? Tea? Warm milk?" She asked politely.

The little sprite shook his head. "Oh, no, thank you. I didn't come here to stay long. I just came to . . . check on you." Agete said nervously.

"Check on me?" Chelsea asked, seating herself back in her chair. Hero decided that the stranger was of no threat for now, and settled back around his person's feet. "Why are you checking on me?"

"Well, it's more like the Harvest Goddess is checking on you." Agete said, drying the last of himself off before directly looking at Chelsea. "See, she noticed that you hadn't visited her in awhile and so she was worried that something was wrong, so she sent me here to check on things."

The tugging feeling in her stomach returned as the red sprite finished his explanation. Chelsea didn't mean to make the Harvest Goddess worry about her. The guilt she had been feeling for awhile troubled her to the point where just couldn't face the Harvest Goddess.

Chelsea had doubted herself ever since she first heard of the islands dilemma, and she just couldn't show her face in front of the Goddess that expected her to save the entire island. How could she save the Goddess' home when she didn't even know if this was her own home as well?

"Oh, it must have slipped my mind!" Chelsea said slapping her forehead dramatically. "I've been so busy with this spring's crops that I haven't had time to do much else. But don't worry, when the weather gets better, I'll come and visit the Harvest Goddess as soon as possible! I'll even bring the juiciest strawberry I have as an offering." Chelsea said with a smile.

Chelsea hated lying. Not only was she terrible at it, but she hated the feeling of guilt afterward and she especially hated having to lie to a friend. However, she didn't know what else to do. She couldn't let anyone on the island know how she was feeling, she couldn't bear to burden anyone with her problems, let alone let them know that she doubted herself as the rancher that they all depended on.

Agete didn't seem convinced.

"You sure you're ok? You know you can always ask for some extra help from us sprites, if you need to." He asked with a worried expression.

"Oh yeah. I'm fine, don't worry. You can tell the Harvest Goddess that I'm sorry for troubling her." Chelsea said, waving her hand as if to wave off the matter. "I promise. I'm fine."

Agete saw right through her fake smile, and was about to argue when a high pitched ringing sound filled the air. Hero woke up again and began barking at the familiar noise caused by the phone.

"Oh, excuse me for a moment." Chelsea excused herself, glad to have an excuse to leave the conversation and walked over to the phone.

"Hello?" Chelsea said into the phone in her usual sweet voice.

_"__Hey Chelsea, its Julia."_ Came the familiar upbeat voice from the other end.

"Julia! Hi, how are you?" Chelsea asked.

Before Julia could answer a loud bang followed by yelling came from her end of the phone. Chelsea had to hold the phone away from her ear so that her ear drum would burst before continuing to speak with Julia.

_"__Oh I'm fine, thanks."_ Julia answered in a meek voice. _"But I kinda need your help."_

"What's wrong?" Chelsea asked worriedly.

A voice other than Julia's came through the phone.

_"__If you weren't such a cry baby all the time this wouldn't have happened in the first place!" _Said the first voice.

_"__He already said he was sorry! Why do you have to be such a jerk all the time?"_ Came a second voice.

Chelsea instantly recognized the two arguing voices as Vaughn's and Denny's, but she didn't have a clue what they were fighting about.

_"__Does that answer your question?" _Julia said, back on the phone.

"How bad is it?" Chelsea asked, looking outside her window to see if the rain had cleared up.

_"__Like, you should have been here yesterday, bad."_ Julia answered.

Chelsea sighed. "Ok, I'm on my way. I'll see you soon."

_"__Thanks Chelsea. You're a real life saver!" _Julia hung up the phone.

Chelsea sighed again before looking back at Agete.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go take care of a problem really quick." Chelsea said, walking over to the table and grabbing her familiar red bandanna before putting it on.

"Oh that's ok, I should be on my way back soon anyway. Is it ok if I stay a little longer to dry off?" Agete asks.

Chelsea nodded and tightened her bandanna. "Of course, and if the rain doesn't stop by the time I could back, feel free to use anything as an umbrella so you don't get wet again."

Chelsea walked over to the door and grabbed her rucksack. She slung it on her shoulder and called over her dog.

"Thanks for dropping in, Agete. Say hello to the Goddess for me. Bye!" Chelsea waved before turning Hero. "Come on boy, you and I have some work to do." And with that, Chelsea and Hero were out the door.

The house suddenly became quite, except for the continuing sound of the rain hitting the roof. Agete stood there for a moment before shaking his head. He could tell Chelsea had been hiding something, but he had no idea what, or why.

"The Harvest Goddess isn't going to be pleased with this." The red sprite mumbled to himself.

Just as he was getting ready to leave, Agete noticed that it was still raining outside. Remembering what the rancher had said, he began to look around the room for something he could use to shield himself from the downpour. His eyes drifted around the room until they came to land on a very thin and small book, just a few inches from him. Agete walked over and tried to pick the book up, which he luckily lifted over his head with ease.

"Perfect." Agete said, before reading the title of the book.

"Wizard of Oz, eh? I'm sure Chelsea won't mind if I borrow this."

And just like the rancher and her dog did before, the red sprite left the house and into the rain to report back to the Harvest Goddess. Little did they know that there was a storm coming their way that would change everything.


	2. Chapter 2

The light rain of this morning had turned into a complete downpour and was only getting worse as Chelsea sprinted towards the animal shop with Hero close to her side. If she knew that it was going to rain this hard, she would have brought an umbrella, but it was too late now as she entered the town. Within inches of Mirabelle's shop door, Chelsea was cold, soaked and completely out of breath.

She could hear the shouts of her friends from outside, and she could only imagine what it must be like inside. _It sounds really bad this time. I hope I can do something._ Chelsea thought, and she knocked on the wooden door. Within seconds it was open and emitting light and warm to the dark and damp street.

Julia stood there with a wide smile on her face. Julia had been one of Chelsea's first friends and they had been close ever since. Her perfectly wavy honey blond hair seemed to glow in the light as she greeted Chelsea with warm light blue eyes. When they had first met, Chelsea was almost too scarred to talk to her, her beauty and style seemed almost intimidating, but Chelsea looked quickly while on the islands that you should never judge a book by its cover, because you never know what is hidden within the pages.

"Oh Chels', I'm so glad you're here!" Julia squealed before registering the state that Chelsea was in. "Oh good gracious, you're soaking wet! Come inside and dry off dear!" And without a word from Chelsea, Julia led her inside.

Chelsea couldn't help but smile at Julia's mother like speech patterns and actions. It made Chelsea feel nice when Julia made a fuss over how wet she and Hero were. She quickly grabbed a towel and started rubbing fiercely at Chelsea's hair while she explained to her about the situation. Speaking of mothers.

"Where's Mirabelle?" Chelsea asked.

"Out, thankfully." Julia replied. "It's her day off, so she went to visit Felicia at her house."

Chelsea took off her now soaking orange shirt and boots as Julia continued. "So, do you want the long version or the short version?" Julia asked, continuing her attempt to dry Chelsea's stringy brown hair.

Chelsea was about to answer when she heard the continuous shouts of Vaughn and Denny from the main part of the shop.

"Short version." Chelsea decided. Julia stopped drying Chelsea's hair and was now drying off Hero, who didn't seem too eager to be rubbed down by the blond.

"It all started earlier today when Vaughn was stacking some of the animal feed that was outside, inside so it wouldn't get wet in the rain. As he was doing so, Elliot came by to visit. However, as he passed, he got spooked when he heard some distant thunder from the storm, and sorta shouted." Julia began.

"Sorta shouted?" Chelsea asked, grabbing another towel and attempting to rub off the rest of her wet body.

"Vaughn describes it as "screamed like a little girl," but either way, it startled Vaughn, who ended up throwing one of the feed bags at Denny's head. Long story short," Julia finished rubbing the now frizzled hair pup and looked at Chelsea. "Vaughn is accusing Elliot of being a coward; Denny is accusing Vaughn of being heartless and Elliot is just trying to keep the peace." Julia sighed deeply.

"I've tried reasoning with them, but they are too far gone now. I've never seen them fight like this, even Elliot is getting riled up." Julia looked at Chelsea with a hopeful look.

"Sorry for dragging you into this and calling you up so suddenly, but you were my only hope. You always have a special way of calming them down, or at least, calming Vaughn down."

Chelsea wouldn't exactly agree that she had a 'special way' of doing anything, but she shook her head.

"No it's fine. I was just sitting at home reading and not doing anything important." Which was true, in a sense. Chelsea tried not to think about the conversation she had earlier with Agete. She got up from the where she was sitting and rolled up her sleeves.

"Anyway, I'll try to do my best! Just leave it to me." Chelsea saluted jokingly, as if she was going into the battle field, which wasn't far from the truth. Julia saluted back.

"I'll be praying for your safe return, soilder." And with that send off, Chelsea walked into the other room and into the cross fire.

Agete stood in front of the Harvest Goddess in her pond. He had gotten back from Chelsea's ranch and had just finished explaining the situation to the Harvest Goddess.

The Goddess frowned and rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

"She forgot to visit, you say? Well that doesn't sound like my favorite rancher at all." She said, more to herself than to the sprite.

"If I may, your Godliness, it seemed to me like something was bothering Chelsea, like something was wrong. But I did a check around her ranch and the islands. Nothing seemed to be physically wrong. All her animals and crops were happy and healthy and all her relations with the villagers are good as well."

The Goddess listened carefully and thought hard.

"Hmm, so then it's something with her." She mumbled and an idea started to sprout in her mind. She waved her hand over her pond's surface and a picture like form appeared in the water. Agete looked over towards the magical mirror and was amazed to see the young rancher he had seen earlier.

Chelsea was in a room with three other men whom Agete recognized as fellow villagers of the islands. Their conversation was confusing, and Agete only picked out a few words out of the argument. Most of them were insults directed at each other, but one of them happened to direct itself towards Chelsea. With that the whole picture seemed to freeze as if the weight of the words had caused time to stop. Before the small sprite had registered what happened, Chelsea had run out of the building, followed by her dog, and into the stormy weather. The magical picture than evaporated into mist and was gone.

"I see. So that's the problem." The Harvest Goddess smiled, clearly understanding something which the red sprite had missed. "But how to solve it?"

"H-harvest Goddess?" Agete said. He had been with the Harvest Goddess longer than he could remember, and he knew that when the Harvest Goddess started smiling the way she did, there was an idea forming. An idea that usually involved magic.

At the sound of her name, the Harvest Goddess turned towards the small sprite, and noticed something next to him that she didn't before.

"Agete, what is that?" The Harvest Goddess asked, pointing to the object the laid beside him.

Agete looked and quickly grabbed the object to show the Goddess. "Oh this? This was a book I borrowed from Chelsea's home. I used it as a temporary umbrella so that I wouldn't get wet on my way here. I was going to return it to her when the weather was better." The little sprite said quickly.

The Harvest Goddess picked up the book and looked at it interestedly. The smile on her face turned into a mischievous grin as the Goddess had found the perfect solution to their problem.

"Yes this will do perfectly." The Goddess said, and before Agete could question her, she turned around and opened another magical mist picture. This time, it was of Chelsea and her dog running in the rain. The storm was getting stronger by the second.

"All the characters are in place." Muttered the Harvest Goddess. She waved one hand over the picture as she held the small book tightly in the other. "Now to set the scene."

"Elliot said he was sorry, like a normal human being with any common sense would. You could learn from him and maybe apologize to me for hitting me in the head!"

"Oh, like you're one to talk about common sense. You barely use your head as it is. I could have hit you with a 100 pound weight and you wouldn't have even noticed because you're head is so hard!"

"Guys, it's not a big deal and-."

"SHUT IT."

The situation was worse than Chelsea had thought. Denny and Vaughn were just going back and forth at each other while Elliot was caught in the middle. It wasn't the first time that the two argued; in fact it was a daily occurrence. But it was always over something small and was more of just friendly banter. This, however, was something way worse. She didn't even know where to begin and didn't seem like any of them knew she was there.

"And if Elliot wasn't such a scaredy cat all the time, then none of this would have happened in the first place!" Vaughn yelled, pointing a finger into Elliot's chest. "Thunder! That's all it was! Measly thunder! Damn, Elliot, man up and grow a pair!"

Elliot shrunk backwards at Vaughn's words. He looked as if he was about to cry. Denny stepped forward.

"Geez dude, why do you have to be such a major jerk to everyone! It's like you don't even have a heart! What's the matter with you?" Denny yelled back.

"What's the matter with me?! What's the matter with you two? At least I speak my mind, which is more then I can say for you!" Vaughn retaliated, turning on Denny now.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means feather brain that I at least have a mind to speak. You just go around with your head in the clouds and you're finger up your nose!"

"Who are you calling a feather brain?"

"Who do you think, bird boy? Oh that's' right, you don't think."

"Guys," Elliot tried to intervene but was quickly put down by the other two's yells.

"All right, that's it! I'm tired of your constant bad attitude and your fowl mouth. Let's settle this once and for all!" Denny said, holding up his fists, ready to fight.

"That's the first intelligent suggestion you've made so far." Vaughn replied. He rolled up his sleeves and put up his fists as well.

Elliot looked like he was going to pass out and the two were about to charge each other when Chelsea slammed her fist on the counter.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" She yelled, in the best demanding voice she could muster. Chelsea had never screamed that loudly before to anyone, and it not only shocked her, but all three of the boys stopped what they were doing and looked at her in surprise.

"C-Chelsea? What are you doing here?" Elliot asked with wide brown eyes.

"Julia called me over because you guys were fighting. But I didn't realize it was this bad. What has gotten into you two?" Chelsea asked, directing her question more to the duo who were about to duke it out.

"It's none of your business." Vaughn replied first, turning back to Denny. "I'm tired of this annoying idiot. We're gonna settle things here and now."

"I couldn't have said it better myself." Denny said back, never putting down his fists.

"I know you couldn't have."

"Why you-"

"Stop it!" Chelsea said, moving in-between them.

"Move it, you dope." Vaughn growled.

"Chels', this is a fight between the two of us, it has nothing to do with you." Denny said in a stern voice.

"It has everything to do with me if two of my best friends are fighting!" Chelsea said back. "Don't think I'm just going to sit back and watch you two hurt each other for no good reason! What will it prove?"

"Nothing." Denny said simply.

"It'll just feel really good to punch his stupid face for once." Vaughn finished.

"That's ridiculous! You two are friends!" Chelsea felt like she was on a ship and she was sinking fast. She needed to think of a way to stop these two before things seriously got out of hand.

"Chelsea, maybe you should just,-"

"No!" Stated Chelsea firmly. She hated snapping at Elliot like that, he was only trying to help. But so was she. "We can solve this another way. Violence is never the answer. Let's just calm down and,-"

"It's too late for words; now get out of the way!" Vaughn yelled at her.

"But,-"

"Damn it Chelsea! Why do you always have to intervene and stick your nose in other peoples business? Why don't you just go back to where you came from and leave us alone! You don't belong here!"

The room grew silent and the air turned cold as everyone was speechless at what was said. Even Vaughn looked startled by what came out of his mouth.

"Wait, Chelsea I didn't,-"

"Your right." Chelsea said. She tried not to give way to her emotions, but she couldn't stop the tears that had started falling from her eyes. For Vaughn had confirmed what she was dreading most. "I don't belong here." She said in a cracked voice and she turned on her heel and rushed out of the room.

"Wait, Chelsea!" Denny called out, but Chelsea didn't stop. She rushed past Julia as the girl held up her now dried shirt and bandana.

"Oh hey, Chelsea! I just finished drying your- where are you going?"

Chelsea didn't even bother to grab her Ruckshack and she headed for the door. Hero, noticing his owner, quickly bolted up from where he was sitting and ran after his person.

Chelsea rushed out into the storm, which had only gotten worse while she was at Mirabelle's. She left her bag, her clothes, her shoes and any care she had for the matter back at the animal shop. The only thing she could think about was what Vaughn had said. The wind and rain stung her eyes as she was instantly drenched by the freezing cold rain.

"Chelsea wait! What happened? Chelsea!" Julia called out, but Chelsea only burst into a run. Hero following close behind.

She didn't know where she was running too; the storm was getting so strong that it was becoming hard to see where she was going, but she didn't care. She just needed to run. Run far away to anywhere but there.

It was Hero's barking that had brought her back to reality. She stopped in her tracks. The wind and rain whipped her hair around as she stood there, her feet covered in mud and her soaked clothes clung to her chilled body. She turned around towards her dog, which looked just as frazzled as she did.

"Oh Hero." Chelsea sobbed, knelling down and taking him in her arms. He licked her tear and rain stained face and she held him tighter.

"Oh, I'm so sorry boy, I'm so sorry." She squeezed her puppy in her arms and got back on her feet. "Let's go back and get you dried off. You're freezing cold."

Just as Chelsea began walking, a strong wind picked up and nearly blew Chelsea off her feet.

"Ack! This storm is getting worse by the second!" She yelled, trying to find some source of light for shelter. The storm was so thick; however, that she couldn't see anything in front of her. She moved forward anyway; she lived on an island, sooner or later she was going to reach the end of it. Hero whimpered in her arms.

"Don't worry boy, we'll make it soon." She comforted, but as soon as she said it, something hard hit the back of Chelsea's head. She sunk to the ground as the storm raged on all around her. Chelsea could have sworn that the world was spinning around her as she was starting to get more and more dizzy. Then, her world went black.

* * *

**Sorry this was a really long chapter but there was a lot that needed to be explained and such. The end was kinda rushed but I'm not making excuses. Anyway, we got a bit of an outlook on the Harvest Goddess, and yes, I gave her special powers, I mean, more like I abused her magic, more like. But anyway, can you guess what's going to happen next? Stay tuned. **


End file.
